House of Earth and Blood Crescent City

Dieses Buch hat mich von der ersten Seite an absolut abgeholt. Es stimmt, dass die Welt relativ kompliziert aufgebaut und demnach anfangs etwas schwer zu verstehen ist, aber wenn man erst einmal drin ist, dann will man nichts anderes machen als den ganzen Tag zu lesen um zu wissen wie es weiter geht. <3 Klare 11/10 für mich!

I hated the first 200 pages. The world is so complex and I was bored. I really had trouble to understand it all. Worst of all - I hated Bryce at the start. She felt like the bitchy party girl and an emotional wrack, which was intended. But I knew – Sarah J. Maas never disappoints me. She always gets me at some point to utterly love the story and the characters. So I endured and waited for the story to show me what it was about. After the 250 world introduction pages she finally caught me in the air and plunged me to the ground, held me there. She let me sob, cry, laugh at and love Bryce, Hunt, Danika and all the lovely, difficult but good characters to the fullest. The characters definitely have difficult traits. They are far from perfect, therefore extremely interesting. I would not say it’s dark romance, but it’s a good hint in the direction. Bryce definitely is self destructive, difficult and willful but good at heart. It took me a long while to understand and love her. To change the story telling from Bryce to Hunt and back was a good way to let me understand how they saw each other, what their experience and their view of life were. The change of view interweaved fluently into the story. I can’t describe Sarah J. Maas writing style. It’s just her. If you want a protagonist with dreadful experience, to watch her being at the ground and fight and fight and fight, wishing for her to finally stand up, to have glimpse of hopes, only to watch her go even deeper – Go for it. I recommend the story. Just endure the first 200 pages and you will be rewarded with a fierce emotional roller coaster ride.

Sarah J. Maas has yet again delivered an enjoyable read. The writing style is good, but the world-building is very confusing. However, I must admit that I find it a bit frustrating that the most thrilling parts of the story happen towards the end of the book, leaving me feeling overwhelmed with the sudden influx of information. It's important to note that this is a slow romance, for those who prefer that kind of storyline.

Nach Throne Of Glass und ACOTAR ist Urban Fantasy eine sehr schöne Abwechslung aus Maas' Feder. Als alteingesessener Shadowhunters-Fan trifft das Worldbuilding genau meinen Geschmack und auch die Erzählgeschwindigkeit ist gut balanciert. Die Charaktere sind, wie man es bereits gewöhnt ist, sehr gut ausgearbeitet und haben sehr viel Tiefe. Sie fühlen sich authentisch an mit all dem Ballast, den sie schultern müssen. Natürlich darf auch hier die Tragik nicht fehlen, aber dadurch fiebert man richtig mit. Was mich teilweise etwas störte: auffällige Parallelen zu den Vorgängerreihen, also sich wiederholende Stereotype oder Beschreibungen. Einiges davon wird mit der Zeit klarer, aber anfangs fühlte es sich wenig innovativ an.

I don’t even know where to begin with. In the first few chapters I was a bit confused because so much happened so fast. I also had a hard time in the beginning because this series takes place in a modern city with cellphones and computers and security cameras and for me it just wasn’t SJM-like. But within a few pages I got to love the book. Bryce was working through her trauma in her own way and she didn’t care what anyone thought about that. That’s one of the main reasons why I fell in love with her. I loved her character from the beginning and at the end of the book nothing changed. She is a bada** MFC and I absolutely love the banter between her and basically everyone. The book is about friendship, loss, grief, family, and finding the way back to life. I laughed, I cried and sometimes I saw myself while reading the book. Overall I’d recommend this book for everyone who fell in love with Celaena/Aelin and wants to read yet another good book from Sarah J. Maas.